The Gaslights
by kingofFevers
Summary: In which a revived Cassie Rose finds herself in an apocalyptic wasteland, with only a voice for company.
1. Target Practice

A/N: hiya. word of warning. 7300 something words. none of it proofread by an outside party. all of it is my judgement. parts 3 and 4 were rushed. Im sorry.

this is a test, really.

* * *

 **0**

Cassie didn't immerse herself in Greek mythology. Despite the vast amount of knowledge and stories the library in the mansion had to offer her, Cassie had kept herself to research and novels. Never had she had any interest in myths, much less the fables of worlds that didn't even exist.

And yet, as she stood up on the cliff and looked down at the tragedy before her, all the girl could think of was Ragnarok.

The destruction of the gods.

But there was no such thing as god. The only people that came close were greedy, ridiculous, good-for-nothing humans who, ultimately, proved themselves to be a farce. Incompetent, _laughable_.

Those people weren't the ones laying dead in this fallout. The people here weren't dictators or scientists or kings. No, each person who lay bloody, torn and ripped apart, scratched, eaten, was an everyman. Normal, plain, boring. All of them, victims to the virus that had infected this world so long ago.

(Just like her so-called friends.)

But that's what it was, all she could think that this world was. _Ragnarok_. There wasn't anything she could do about that, even if it didn't make sense.

To be fair, it made just about as much sense as her standing here in the first place.

So we have that.

* * *

 **1**

Considering her history, death was nothing knew to Cassie. She'd died multiple times, in more ways than one. The tingling pain that came with respawning, the remnants of her fatal wounds, she'd largely gotten used to at this point.

Still, the phrase "you learn something new everyday" had never rang more true for her until today.

She wondered how death by Endermites wasn't a thing in the games yet.

A loud scream woke Cassie from her slumber. Bleary eyes tried to blink sleep away as a strong current of air passed through, chilling the girl. Annoyed by the wake up call, Cassie got up with a grunt, then a gasp as everything she moved stung and blazed like a flare too close for comfort. Her legs, hands, head; her entire body hurt, and it hurt like _hell_. Several sensations flooded through her all at once: The brief feeling of wind flying by her as she fell, the harsh landing into gravel and obsidian, endermites crawling all over, millions upon millions of claws prickling at every part of her while teeth bit into her skin-

A wasteland came to mind like a godsend, distracting her. Breathing in through clenched teeth to relieve the pain, Cassie desperately clung to the thought, the picture, whatever it was. She took hold of whatever she could find- the disastrous state of all the towns and cities that once stood tall and proud, the bodies strewn about every place one could look, all battered and torn and decorated with blood: the carnage committed by betrayed youth.

Horrific images, but for whatever reason, the apocalyptic world that she saw before her was welcome.

The overgrown forest which had monsters lurking in it was a particularly pleasant sight.

As her limbs began to feel like they were being swallowed in an eternal, paradoxical loop, Cassie wondered if she should laugh or be worried about her comfort in the macabre. And like every other event in which this had happened, she decided to take a third option; namely to let it go and move on.

With the pain now numb and hazy, Cassie stood. She still shook slightly (relentlessly) as she familiarized herself with her surroundings. Her surroundings which she found rather suspiciously matched what she'd seen in her distraction.

Perhaps she'd simply seen it in her peripheral?

Regardless, the girl continued forward, passing under an arch on a cobblestone pathway that lead to demolished town, almost exactly like how she'd seen it in her 'vision' (for lack of a better word). A copper scent emanated from the place and it grew stronger as she got closer. In the abnormal moonlight, Cassie could see bodies and blood all over the place. Some of them were still in one piece, others have been torn apart or decapitated, and it only added to the atmosphere of a place a monster or two had passed through.

Cassie walked through town without any heed to what exactly she was walking on, making wet squishes and crunched noises every other step she took. Aside from that, everything was silent.

"Hh…"

Until she heard _that_.

It was faint, incredibly faint, and Cassie had to have been straining her ears to even hear it over the loud sound of leaves, bodies and rotten food she'd been walking over just earlier. She paused, listened.

Bushes in the forest far away rustled before something flew straight out of the trees. The flapping of its wings was loud enough to be heard all the way from town, and Cassie could see the figure flying against the moon's light before diving for somewhere further off.

Another whimper.

Cassie could hear it a little clearly now. The whimpers turned into sobs, getting progressively louder within seconds. And from what she could hear, it seemed to have been coming from the plaza, straight ahead. So she continued forward, her pace slowed and steps careful to not make noise. The wet cobblestone slowly became muddy tiles, and Cassie took even lighter steps than earlier. All around the plaza were, aside from the ubiquitous corpses, abandoned and pushed over benches and market stalls and, at the center, a fountain. Sitting on the fountain bench was a girl, shaking with sobs.

"Hh.. hh… hh…"

The crying girl didn't seem to notice Cassie coming.

Taking this opportunity to get a better look, the redhead stepped closer and scrutinized the girl. Despite the dirt smeared all over her, her skin was noticeably pale and her wavy, dark hair, impossibly silky and reaching the floor, gleamed in the moonlight.

Another oddity in this apocalypse, Cassie had to assume.

"Hello? Are you okay?" she called from a few feet away, "Can I help you?"

Another oddity, but someone familiar in this hellscape, at least.

The girl stiffened, her sobs still audible and her shoulders still shaking. Cassie watched as the girl slowly lowered her bare legs to the floor, arms going to her sides and head still hung low. Her white dress is oddly clean and her green eyes are wide with fear.

"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Both girls stared at each other, eyes fixed and anticipating.

Then she ran.

"Hey!"

The girl sprinted straight for the forest, leaving behind a trail of dust and leaves and a startled Cassie chasing right after her.

"Hey, come back!" She yelled through the massive amount of fauna the forest held between its trees. "I just want to talk!"

Leaves were crushed and vines were swayed and ran through as the redhead chased after the girl. Passing sounds of cicadas and fleeing creatures went by Cassie while she ran, her continuous and short breaths accompanying the rushing wind, all of these sounds filling her ears at once. The runaway meanwhile seemed to be without dilemma, her long hair not at all getting caught in the numerous trees and plants that abound the path. She ran with ease, her pace getting faster and faster as she tried to evade the murderer far behind her. The latter herself wasn't very appreciative of this.

"Come on! I won't hurt you, I promise!"

But Cassie's assurances were ignored and the sounds went back to the cicadas, the wind and the leaves. Both girls continued to run; one fleeing, the other chasing. It was almost endless, with everything Cassie heard and saw being the same everywhere she looked. All except for the girl who'd begun crossing between trees and leaving the moonlit path. The black and white image of the girl flickered, smearing against the darker hues of the forest.

The girl ran faster.

Cassie followed suit.

Eventually, the trees began to spread out, the forest feeling less and less cluttered and crowded. As the forest began to clear, the girl did too. She tried as best as she could to follow wherever the ghost of the girl went, and she did, following flying leaves and swaying vines.

Then all of a sudden, everything was white.

* * *

 **2**

Cassie bolted out of the forest and landed on dirt with a scream.

"God fucking dammit!"

Blonde blades of grass and straw flew around the redhead, dust spreading from where she landed. She coughed and swore and cursed at herself but for what, she didn't know.

When the dust settled, she lay still, her ears ringing and breathing slowing. Faint thumps sounded from far away, the sound of footsteps or hooves, claws or stumps, she couldn't tell which was which.

But they were running, running through the ground, roots and grass and the numbness through her, going straight and loud in her ear.

And they rung.

" _Okay, this might hurt. If it's too much, just tell me."_

It hurt.

" _I don't want to hurt you, but we have to do this alright? ...You see that poster over there? Focus on that. Distractions can help with the pain."_

She focused on something else.

Green eyes gazed at the blurry image of the forest she'd just run from. She couldn't see the girl nor could she remember hearing her.

So she'd lost her.

Just like how she'd lost her friends and her way home.

What a long list of failures.

Having successfully distracted herself from what was bothering her just moments earlier, Cassie got up with a groan, brushing grass and dust off her clothes. She looked around the clearing, expecting and finding no sight of the girl. All there was was just her, the clearing, and the surrounding forest.

And of course, the moonlight.

She looked up at the moon, squinting and blinking her eyes upon seeing the bright light. It stared back at her, the thing twitching in blues and reds as it tried to move from its position, stuck.

The redhead breathed a laugh at the moon's pitiful state, "Loser."

She looked back down to ground level, taking a gander at the trees lined up around her. Nothing but forest ambience emanated from the place, and truth be told it seemed like there never was a chase at all. An odd sight, but it wasn't the strangest thing Cassie's seen today so far.

Suddenly, hysterical laughter rang through the air. Cassie whipped her head in the sound's direction, hearing it just beyond the other edge of the forest. It was swiftly accompanied by inhuman screams, then, literally seconds later, a large explosion and something shattering to pieces. Cassie jumped and blinked rapidly at the surprising turn of events she'd just heard; and if her posture hadn't straightened then, it did right that moment when she was able to see the mushroom cloud from where she stood.

...

"'Guess I'll die."

Cassie let out an exasperated sigh, now resigning herself to going along with whatever happened in this strange world.

So she followed the source of the explosion and trudged through the forest, this time with the pleasure of not having to chase anything, taking her time in getting to the other side. While this was, on one part, because of her not wanting to run again, it was also because she'd heard the battle get increasingly heated on the other side (she was _sure_ it was a battle at this point). Judging by the same hysterical laughter repeating over and over and the different kind of inhuman sounds, it must've been one monster against a number of others, none of them alike. So really, biding her time in getting there wasn't that bad of an idea, and even if there was something there waiting for her, it's not like running to get there would change anything. The numerous explosions must have already made it sure that whatever was on the other side, it's already long gone. Cassie could get by simply seeing the remnants.

It was when the chaos came to a stop that Cassie finally made it to the source. That source being another city, one in just as much disrepair as the one from before. Though unlike the first one, which was humble and otherwise normal, this one was built on expensive material. Cassie herself was surprised to see all the polished diorite and quartz still surviving all the blasts she heard before and roofs that looked to be made of diamonds and gold, of all things, still floated in midair. Even with the city in a state of a warzone, traces of its immense wealth (and waste of said wealth, in Cassie's opinion) still remained.

"Show-off," was all the girl could say to verbalize what she thought. Though as much as she was perplexed by the utter waste of resources, she found herself even more confused by how large portions of the buildings survived the battle.

One particularly egregious example was a very modern, just as extravagant and showy house sitting to the side and completely and utterly untouched.

Somehow.

With suspicion high, Cassie crept into the city, her eyes darting around every corner for anything that could charge at and attack her. She walked over anything that could make noise and kept switching between looking around and down at the ground. Once she finally made it to the house itself, she kept away from the grass, which was covered in soot and and odd liquid she didn't want to know about, and walked on the cobblestone path to the stairs. Nothing made itself known while Cassie went up the stairs and made it to the house.

Seeing that she was in the clear, she peeked in through the window before opening the door and hurriedly making it inside.

The door closed with a soft click and Cassie turned around; the first thing she found was quiet.

Everything was in order, _too much order_. Not the appearance of the house itself, no, it was abandoned and dusty and some things were falling apart, but it was quiet.

"Hello?"

Nothing answered.

"Is someone there?"

 _Is someone waiting for me?_

There was nothing.

Cassie took in a deep breath while glancing around, before finally letting go of the tension and actually taking in her surroundings. The room she'd just entered, the living room, gave off a stuffy, arrogant air. Moonlight streaming in through the windows showed lush couches and extravagant decor. The decoration of the room seemed pretentious, even more than the town had. It was as if the owner wanted to impress. Walking through the place itself furthered this point as rooms and halls were decorated with modern furniture and expensive paintings. (But even then, she had to admit that at the very least, the place looked nice, disregarding the effects of the apocalypse on it.)

Seeing all the unnecessary arrangements, Cassie bit her lip and wondered if she'd rather spend her life in here or the more cabin-like and cozy mansion back in the other world.

'Neither' was the option she chose. (As comfortable as the mansion was built to be, she'd seen enough of it for one lifetime.)

One of the rooms she came across was small, but there were so many things packed inside it. She came in, curious to see what was there, finding half an armory, half a gallery (sort of). Measly things like chain armor and golden apples were hovering on pedestals while weapons and tools were left untouched. She frowned as she stepped closer, taking an iron sword off of its display hooks. The sword felt firm in her hands, like any normal - and good - sword. It didn't seem to be used at all, and even with all the dust coating it and the age, it was perfectly fine.

Meaning it could come in handy.

She brushed dust off and kept it along with her diamond axe, which was still in pretty good condition, considering. On that note, she looked at the the rest of her inventory and was struck by how empty it was. In her battle against Jesse, she'd completely forgotten how she let go of most of her things when she faked her death. All that was left with her were ender pearls, which she used up in vain, and...

 _I had salmon with me, didn't I?_

No, she fed it to…

To…

Cassie grabbed the bows and arrows from the wall and fled the room, stuffing them into her pocket. The colors of orange, black and white, she pushed out of her mind.

" _Distractions can help with the pain."_

Coming up to a crevice in the hall, at the very back of the house, was a door to the backyard. She opened it carefully, making as little noise as possible, then walked down the steps to the rather clean and well kept backyard. On one end was an entrance shack to, presumably, the basement; on the other end, a mound of dirt. It looked like a grave, but whose?

She ignored it and headed straight for the basement entrance. She hefted the door open, not anticipating the hinges giving way and giving out a groan. Cassie winced, _'Hopefully, no one heard that.'_

Oh, who was she kidding?

She hurried in as quietly as she could and closed the door shut.

Cassie Rose gave herself away.

* * *

 **3**

The basement turned out to be a workshop, as Cassie found when she flipped the lever next to the stairs. There was dust all around and the lights flickered constantly, no doubt the result of long term abandonment; it even showed in the cracked sand block walls. Cabinets and wooden tables lined the room. There were blueprints and notes scattered all over work benches and some of them were even on the floor. Scraps of mechanical parts and wires were left on the tables, all of them unfinished, save for one.

Curious to what it was, Cassie stepped closer. (Was the ceiling giving way? She could've sworn she heard sand fall somewhere.)

It was a small, black thing on a pile of tissue; next to the thing was a note with presumably a name, but whatever was written was smudged. She took the strange object, raising a brow at its weird shape. Most of it was made of a combination of materials ( _It's called plastic, isn't it?_ ), and the two ends of the looped thing were made of some cloth-like material ( _Fuzz. It's called fuzz, right? They're used for jukeboxes_ ). Oddly enough, part of the bigger shape of the object reminded her of an ear; protruding from the bottom part was an L-shaped stick. There were a couple of buttons on the thing, too.

Cassie looked at the odd object with a look, but then shrugged. _What's the harm?_ She died once before, she didn't think trying an alien object out would do much damage to her. (And even if it did, she didn't particularly care.) Considering the shape it reminded her off, she tried to put it in her ear, struggling when she realized she didn't know how it was supposed to be placed. The fact that there was a long stick thing attached to it didn't help.

After a while of figuring it out (and looking stupid while doing it, no doubt), Cassie successfully put it on. Her face contorted into confusion when nothing happened. She poked it repeatedly and fiddled with the thing, an awkward silence taking everything over.

 _...Wow, I like this turn of-_

" _ **AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**_

The ground shook and sand from the ceiling began to leak and break away from the sand blocks, and Cassie _could_ have been able to hear something heavy upstairs walking around, _right outside the freaking basement_ and causing the ground to shake, if it weren't for the sudden ringing attacking her left ear.

" _HOLY FUCKING SHIT._ "

"WHAT THE-"

 _Someone else is here?!_

"Who are you?!"

"Who am I?! _Who are you?!_ "

"I asked first!"

So many things were going on at once and Cassie had never missed silence before now. The loud thumping upstairs, which she now realised sounded or had something mechanical to it, relented and interrupted both her and the other voice.

" _ **Come out, come out, wherever you are!"**_ Came the voice of, she presumed, the monster. It sounded like it was coming out of a speaker. _**"I know you're here somewhere!"**_

The other voice panicked. " _What the hell is that?!_ "

Cassie herself was no different, although she was less scared; more confused, really. " _Don't ask me!_ "

*THUMP!*

That was right above the room.

Cassie and the boy, the second voice, waited in tense silence. Then the monster said in a singsong, _**"You're hiding in the basement, aren't you?"**_

The redhead swore loudly.

"Well shit, she got you."

She yelled and turned for the basement door, "No fucking shit!"

The monster above continued its taunts. Cassie gave the ceiling a glare and grumbled, "Okay, fuck that, monster first."

"You're in a basement?"

He seemed to take on a more serious stance at her change of subject.

"Yeah, why?" She looked around briefly for anything that could possibly help her, but found nothing. All she could use were the weapons she grabbed from the armory and what she had from the mansion; and she didn't even know what she was up against, so just going upstairs without a plan wouldn't do her any good.

The monster upstairs seemed to stop moving, but Cassie could swear she heard something hiss. She gave everything in the room a cautious look; the boy on the other side of the earpiece didn't have much of the same paranoia, asking, "I've- It'll take too long to explain, but I think I can help you if I know exactly where you are."

Cassie didn't know what to make of her luck right now. "Wh- I-" She looked everywhere.

 _What the hell was that_ hissing _?_

She grumbled. Anything that could possibly help her right now was more than welcome. "Alright, fine! I'm in a basement, in the backyard of a house in some super pretentious, super modern town." The girl wished she could be as calm as the boy was in the moment. "It's also out in the middle of effin' nowhere and near a forest." She looked back at the basement door and- was it being pulled out?!

Her eyes widened, "And just an FYI, the monster's literally right outside, she knows I'm here. Pulling the door out right now, as we speak."

Then a new sound came through, was it paper? "Okay wait," The boy said, "I think I know where you are."

 _Note to self, ask more about this guy later._

"Champion City, right? Then- oh shit."

Cassie swore under her breath. The door was _so close_ to giving way. "What? What is it?!"

The monster was about to come in, so there wasn't anything wrong with her hiding. Perhaps in the cabinet in the corner?

Screw it, she's gonna hide.

"Okay, I think I know the monster now."

Right at that moment, the doors gave way, and splinters and pieces of the door flew into the room. Cassie flinched violently and hit the back of the closet with a loud 'thud!' Though it must've been covered up by the loud sound of the doors. She hoped they did.

" _ **KYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I've found you, darling~ There's nowhere for you to run and nowhere to hide…"**_

' _Eat shit, asshole.'_ The redhead thought to herself.

"...She's in the room with you right now, isn't she?"

"I'm hiding, it's fine." She whispered, "Just tell me more about this stupid monster, I can't see her from here."

"Her name's Lunacy." The boy's voice was loud in her ear, and Cassie was grateful for being able to hear him over the monster's- Lunacy's - mad laughter, "She was originally this woman named Stella before she got infected by the virus."

"Virus? What virus?"

"I don't know, okay?! Anyway, she was kind of the leader of this place? And I guess that's the reason she's the only monster there or something."

Outside, Cassie could hear Lunacy moving the furniture while crawling around the room.

"You mean _you're not sure_?"

"Look it- it's pretty dark in here, okay? I can't see much."

Cassie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Alright, nevermind that, how can I fight her?"

"Well, she's usually in a reasonably humanoid form…"

"Usu-"

"She can-"

" _ **There you are~"**_

Cassie jumped with a scream, accidentally throwing herself out of the closet and knocking it down. She landed at the opposite side of the room with a loud thud, quickly putting her hair away from her face and giving the closet a confused and terrified look. "What the hell?!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

The girl got up within seconds and scrambled for a weapon, head whipping around in every direction for any sign of a monster, but found nothing. The room was utterly empty, though moonlight now swept into the basement thanks to the door now being in pieces.

 _What? But…_

She looked back up at the closet, empty and now with both doors hanging off of loose hinges.

"I-" Cassie could barely get the words out, "I could've _sworn_ I heard her in there. I swear she was in the closet with me, I heard her!"

"That- that- oh." She turned to the stairs and listened for anything that might clue her in to Lunacy's location, but all she heard was humming, and it was coming from _all sides of the room_. "What do you mean 'oh?'" She asked, irritated.

"Ok-okay, full list of Lunacy's abilities here: she can throw her voice, mimic other people's voices, and manipulate any kind of machinery to do _anything_ , including changing her appearance."

Well _that_ explains it.

Cassie screwed her eyes shut, "Of course."

She climbed up the stairs as the boy continued, "You can use her limbs against her, though; she'll be weakened significantly if you cut her connection to her machines."

Making it to the basement entrance, Cassie peeked outside. As far as she was concerned, Lunacy wasn't anywhere right next to the basement. The loud sounds of grinding and groans of large, rusted objects being dragged together coming from the inside of the city clued her in pretty well. "What 'machines' exactly? And what do you mean limbs?"

"Uh.." The flipping of pages, "Er.. Anything that has wires."

If only Cassie could see the boy face to face, maybe he'd be affected by her deadpan expression. To be fair to him, though, he caught on within seconds and rectified his statement with, "Her arms are made up of extendable wires and she uses those to keep her machines together."

Knowing that the coast was clear, Cassie left the basement and crept her way around the house. "So all the machines are kind of like extended limbs for her?"

Peeking around the house confirmed this suspicion for Cassie, as she saw a blonde figure in the distance with her arms spread to her sides. Wires coiled and snaked around her arms, hands, and multiple pieces of rubble and redstone machines, tying them together. It looked almost like a painting Cassie would have seen in the mansion, a display of power; her cape blowing in the oncoming breeze and the woman's hysterical laughter completed the picture. "Yeah, pretty much."

Hiding back behind the wall, Cassie replied, "So I basically cut her arms off."

"That would only weaken her, though."

She took out her axe and tossed it low in the air, testing it. "Anything on how to take her out completely?"

"Uh… No, it's all smudged."

She had to roll her eyes. "How convenient."

"You can just wing it, though, right?"

For a moment, Cassie thought to protest with common sense, but her mind brought her back to arenas, laboratories, and an endermite pit, and suddenly she conceded the boy's point. "Yeah, sure."

"Oh- then, uh, great." He said in response, though he sounded more surprised than Cassie thought he should. Regardless, she peeked back onto the road, where Lunacy was still dragging machinery to her form. Hearing a noise nearby, the girl looked down to see pieces of rubble from the other building being dragged along by wires, redstone machines joining them. She looked around with a higher sense of alert and saw that Lunacy's web of wires extended throughout the whole city.

 _So land isn't an option for me._

She scanned the rest of the landscape, at all the buildings and houses. Most were in pieces, either stuck to the ground or staying put in midair, but the sizes of the different buildings' remnants varied.

One such remnant was high enough above Lunacy's current spot.

Cassie remembered the bows and arrows she snatched from the armory.

Something began to form and a grin grew on her face as she looked around her; in front, at the house, below, at the weapons, and at the back, the forest. Specifically, the trees.

"Bingo."

"Huh? What do you-?"

Ignoring the boy, Cassie went for the trees and began to climb its branches, making her way to the top. Steadying herself on two different branches, she glanced down several feet below at the spot where she once was, then up, the roof of the intact house not too high. After quick glance at her inventory, she took out the iron sword and her diamond axe, her eyes on the large distance between the tree and the diorite (and rather _bland_ ) walls of the house.

 _Nothing like a good challenge._

She stepped back slightly, hearing the bark crack under her sneakers, then ran, launching herself toward the wall. The sound of her weapons piercing the wall was lost to Lunacy's transformation, which Cassie now dismissed as background noise; for now, her attention was focused on climbing up the wall. After a small struggle she was able to tug her sword out of the hole it had made and stabbed the space above her, then did the same with the axe, removing it from the crack it left on the house; she pulled on the sword's handle and raised herself up, then struck the higher wall. She repeated this process a little more, climbing higher and higher until she made it to the roof.

With a grunt she lifted herself onto the sandblock surface, taking her weapons from where they were lodged when she was done. Tucking the axe away, she looked down at the town, eyes widening upon seeing that Lunacy now not only had extended, larger, mecha-arms, but also had cranes and scaffolding attached or protruding from her back. They were formed like an octopus' tentacles, but they seemed like a spider's while stabbing and piercing the ground below her as the woman moved, no longer relying on her own humanoid legs.

"Well," Cassie muttered between breaths, "This is peachy."

" _What_ is peachy?"

She'd almost forgotten about the boy on the other side. "Lunacy's... _upgraded_ herself."

"Oh, Jesus." He facepalmed, or at least, Cassie heard him do so.

"But don't worry," She walked over to the other edge, looking over the neighbouring building, or the floating pieces of what was left of it, "I've got a plan."

"Really."

The girl felt cheeky and mischievous when she heard his deadpan response, running for and jumping onto the floating platform with ease as she did so. "Yeah, definitely." There was a platform below hers, low enough to get a good look at the street but still high enough so she could still jump from platform to platform. She dropped down to the rubble. "Right."

Lunacy was currently looking away from her with only one of her spider legs north east of where she stood, but a safe distance away from her house. Speakers that Cassie only now noticed were stuck to poles blared with the mad woman's voice, saying, _**"I know you're here somewhere, love~"**_

Cassie focused more on the monster's arms, trying to discern the wires from the rusted parts.

" _ **I heard you talking just now."**_

Suddenly, the earpiece gave a click, and there was nothing but dead silence in Cassie's ear. "What-?"

Lunacy snapped in her direction with a crack, catching the redhead off guard with a laugh that somehow wasn't muffled by her clown mask. She swung her arm right under Cassie's feet and in a panic she leapt for another platform, just as the monster raised her arm and destroyed the building entirely.

 _Wait!_

She looked down at Lunacy's incoming arm, literally a split second away from destroying the platform she stood on.

 _Shouldn't cutting her arms weaken her?_

With milliseconds to go, Cassie kept the sword and switched from the platform to the amalgamation of an arm, latching onto rusty pieces sticking out of the bulk.

The monster let out a yell of surprise when she saw her target not on lying dead in rubble, but clinging to her arm. Enraged, she screamed and swung her arm further forward, Cassie holding on for dear life and hair flying in the wind.

Though she wasn't swayed by the movement, the chaos was distracting, and Cassie had to wonder what happened to the boy while she regained her bearings. She hadn't heard him say anything since Lunacy spotted her.

 _No_ ; she shook her head, she shouldn't allow herself to get distracted. She tightened her grip on a handlebar with one hand as she let go of a window pane, moving her hair out of her face and trying to see what was going on around her. Lunacy, from behind her mask, glared at the girl, and her snarls were amplified by the speakers all around town as she tried to get the intruder off her arm. Cassie looked up just in time to avoid one of her 'tentacles,' accidentally letting go of the handlebar in the process. She grabbed another object sticking out as Lunacy let out a scream from her self-inflicted injury.

 _Idiot_ , Cassie thought.

From the ends of the now partly-amputated arm, the wires spazzed and writhed around, sending sparks flying from their tips. The same could be said for the part that landed on the ground with a loud _THUD!_ The rubble and machinery that had previously been tied together were now scattered on the ground.

" _ **Get off me!"**_ Lunacy screamed from the speakers, her voice only slightly worse for wear from the injury.

Deciding not to respond, the girl traced the ends of the cut wires, now able to discern cord from rubble. Hearing a metallic groan behind her, she turned her head with wide eyes, then dodged again, this time grabbing the first wire she saw in front of her. She dropped right below the spiked leg, the loose wire giving way to her weight. Another one of Lunacy's screams sounded through.

She climbed up the wire, this time grabbing and hanging from the leg now impaling Lunacy's arms. From there she pulled at the wire, tugging it hard from its place and causing even more pain for the monster as she did so.

" _ **Stop…! Stop it!"**_

Cassie didn't know if she was hearing things, or if Lunacy was actually _begging_. Nevertheless, she moved on to the rest of the cords, pulling them away from the monster. As she did so, the arm began to lower, Lunacy's balance, along with her composure, faltering as well.

Lunacy sent another one of her scaffold-made tentacles after Cassie, this time carefully avoiding her arm. Out of instinct, she grabbed the tentacle right in front of her to keep her balance, her right hand still holding on to the wire.

" _ **Let go of me!"**_

Suddenly, the familiar hissing from earlier returned, followed immediately by the wire flying out of her hands. Then the arm began to lower, the groan of metal grinding together, and then the sounds of rubble falling to the ground below.

She was letting go of her arm.

Cursing under her breath, Cassie took hold of the tentacle with her other hand and climbed, just as Lunacy began to retract it from its spot.

"Goddammit goddammit goddammit goddammit-"

The climb continued anyhow, not without Cassie feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous, but it continued, even when she saw Lunacy letting go of her other limbs. She continued climbing until she was high enough and looked down at the monster.

Was that a box on her back?

Her head snapped in Cassie's direction, and in that same moment, something slithered beneath her fingers. Wide eyed, she looked down and saw the wires move forward. Rapidly.

 _Fuck._

Lifting her head slowly, green eyes followed the direction, seeing the red, blue and black move like snakes right to Lunacy, to the box on her back.

A sense of triumph that she so dearly missed returned to Cassie, and she had to remind herself to not celebrate early.

The scaffolding connected to the pole she held onto now groaned, then joined all the other rubble. The pole was following soon after.

"Oh, that bitch."

Quickly, she climbed up the descending pole and, right when it was about to fall, latched onto the next thing, a crane. Her legs swung in the air, very, _very_ , high above the road, but not so much the box on Lunacy's back. Bracing herself, the girl started to swing her body, forward then back, forward then back. The groans of metal were loud in her ear and the boy was absent still.

Then, when the crane gave way, she swung forward and jumped, and it felt like time slowed. She took out her axe, which wasn't anywhere near breaking point, and swung it at the metal box.

Lunacy screamed.

* * *

 **4**

Sparks. She heard them first, along with the cackle of fire, before her eyes opened to a blurry world. Far away, she could see a pile of something brown with yellow things bursting out and orange dancing.

She closed her eyes and let out a mix of a groan and an exasperated sigh.

Her back stung.

Again.

 _What a joy._

"Hello?" The radio cackled, like fire. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Heaving herself up from dirt and rubble, her breathing was fast and unsteady and gravel and soil stuck to her palms. Up ahead, in the middle of the city's road, lay the remnants of the entire town, scaffolding and rubble piled on top of each other, rusty and abandoned, grime, soot and dirt covering every inch of them. The smoke from the fire rose to the sky and the smell reached all the way to the edge of the forest, where Cassie currently stood.

It feels as though she just woke up.

"Hey, are you there? Are you okay?"

She coughed into her sleeve before answering the boy, "I'm fine."

"Oh, thank god." He breathed a sigh of relief, "Hey uh, sorry for bailing on you earlier. I remembered that Lunacy could control any machine, so I thought she might have heard us talking, and if you told me your plan…"

Her inventory had the notable absence of an axe. Cassie hummed as she looked back up at the city.

"Yeah, no, it's fine. I ended up scrapping that plan anyway."

"Oh."

The road was now clear, mostly, and she was able to walk to the battle spot with ease. She climbed the rubble, lazy and groggy, like a zombie, not minding at all the hazards coming from literally everything around her. All she needed to find right now was Lunacy's corpse.

"So she's dead, she's gone? You defeated her?"

It was right in the center of the mound.

"Yeah, I did."

"Awesome."

She landed in the small clearing with a huff and grabbed hold her axe from the broken fuse box, sparks flying out of it. A burst of them came out when she removed the weapon.

Lunacy didn't seem to notice.

The monster herself lay still, face first into the dirt, right on top of a pool of her own blood. Sparks continued to fly out.

Then she began to fade.

Cassie did nothing but watch with narrowed, confused eyes as her body turned translucent. She could see something glow yellow in the blonde's bosom, right underneath the fuse box, and it got brighter and brighter as more of Lunacy disappeared until finally, she was gone, leaving behind only the glowing ball.

"What the hell…?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

Curious, Cassie crouched down, holding her hand out at the floating object. When she got close enough, it _moved_ to her, finally making it to and laying in her hands.

It felt… familiar?

"What's this?"

Like it should fit in her hand, and it _did_ , but it felt like it belonged to her.

"What's what?"

She played around with the thing, and it followed. "Lunacy's body faded and stuff, but she left behind this… _thing_. Some sort of glowing ball."

"Maybe it's her inventory?"

The glow faltered for a second.

"No, it doesn't look like it. She didn't, y'know…"

Her brows furrowed, right hand moving around to try and find the right word.

Go up in a cloud of smoke?

"Poof?"

"You call it _poof_?"

"Is there any other way to describe it?"

Cassie thought with a frown.

"Okay fine. Anyway, she didn't poof, and no inventory appeared after she faded away."

"Huh. Weird."

Cassie moved to keep it in her inventory along with her weapons. It stayed put.

"Well, whatever it means, it's in my inventory for now. FYI."

"Alright."

The sound of papers rustling reminded her.

"Hey," she began as she turned and climbed out of the garbage heap, "so since I'm not in the middle of a battle anymore, would you mind telling me how you knew all about Lunacy?"

"Huh-? Oh! Yeah." Cassie squinted at the land beyond the rest of the city. It was still pretty far (just like how the boy's voice sounded at the moment), she'd have to go through the rest of town to get there. "I'm in some sort of office? There are papers and files _everywhere_ , it's really cluttered."

There only seemed to be forest beyond the border, though.

"We were lucky the file for Lunacy was right on the desk."

Her axe safe in her inventory, she walked, surveying the ruins around her. "Desk?"

"Yeah. There's a bunch of weird machines and a mic in this, which I guess is how I'm talking to you."

"Oh, neat."

"I guess."

There was silence between them for a brief moment, when all Cassie heard were her footsteps.

 _Wait a minute._

Her brows furrowed and she frowned.

 _I don't know this guy's name._

"Hey, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we?"

"Hah," the boy chuckled, "I guess not."

"My name's-" she paused, hesitating for a moment, but it only lasted a second, "my name's Cassie Rose."

"That's a nice name. It's nice to meet you, Cassie Rose."

Her head tilted at the compliment, a brow raised. "Thanks." She continued her pace. "And you are?"

"Aiden. My name's Aiden."

A faint smile on her lips. Her features softened.

He has a nice name, too.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Aiden."


	2. Agony of the Enderman

A/N: _**slides**_ _ **in**_ **thought youd seen the last of me huh bich**

im kidding pls dont hit me. the next update'll come in a few days cus this needs to catch up to the uploads on dA

story's comin to a close my dudes! yey.

* * *

 **0**

* * *

It's quiet. Of course it would be, nobody would have any reason to be here, and even if there were, they wouldn't be able to hear or say anything. Not if there wasn't anything extraordinary about them.

Which must be why he's here, standing dumbly in tattered clothing, mixed feelings of confusion and excitement contradicting each other as he faced her with wide eyes. Taking in his surroundings, soft colors fading in and out of each other and reflective squares overlapping the shape of a monster's remains, he breathes in. To him, it looks amazing.

Naturally.

Like the sadist that he is.

(Although 'sadist' might be an exaggeration, she feels it appropriate, especially given the context of the current situation. Because a normal person would be terrified by being within the very fabric of multi reality, nevermind the first layer of it.

But him?)

Now satisfied, he looked back at her, his head tilted, curious. "So should I know you?"

Her eyes are cold and condescending, dark as if she's seeing the filthiest thing in all of existence. She won't give him an answer; nothing satisfactory, especially after what he's done, what he would do.

 _The bastard doesn't deserve it._

(She felt to laugh. Oh, how demonized she would be if his knights heard her call him that.

If he were one to have any knights.)

A smirk on his face. "No answer, then?" He closed his eyes and laughed, "Yeah, that's on me for assuming."

At least he knows.

* * *

 **1**

* * *

Cassie was right about it only being forest beyond the borders of Champion City. There had been empty land, presumably for crops, after the city, then trees lined against each other on the border. After that it was right back into the cluster of trees.

Or, in short terms, confusion.

"So how do you think we're talking?"

Aiden, the boy on the other end of the earpiece, had been trying to start up a conversation ever since the very brief mess that happened literally minutes earlier.

"You think it's some sort of… advanced redstone?"

To be fair to him, they were both new to this situation.

"Or something?"

...Still, she's beginning to regret putting a voice in her head.

"Yeah, 'or something.'" She said dismissively, wanting more to focus on getting to the other side of the forest. In the silence, Cassie could swear he pulled a face, likely wanting a more proper answer than anything else.

Reluctantly, she gave him that proper answer, "Okay, yes, it is advanced redstone."

"But-" _Click Click Click_

She stopped short in her tracks and fell silent.

The forest was a little less so. Just as earlier, there were cicadas, small animals, bushes and trees rustling in the wind. It's to be expected, it's a forest, but that sound was… inhuman.

Considering her earlier encounter, she has every right to be suspicious.

Her steps are lighter.

"Cassie?"

"As I was saying-" She looked around warily, but nothing seemed off. Yet. "-You can do anything with redstone, as long as you're creative about it. These earpieces connect through signals emitted from satellites in the sky, and whatever we input through microphones is sent through those signals and satellites and goes wherever the receiving channel is."

"...Did you pull that out of your ass?"

She shook her head. So much for 'proper answer.' "If you want to think I did, sure."

If she wasn't straining her ears, Cassie would have thought the forest was completely empty, but she could swear, if she was standing absolutely still, that something else was walking along with her, but she stopped, listened.

There was nothing there.

The moonlight shining through gaps in the trees was sparse, so there was virtually nothing but instinct for Cassie to rely on in the woods. She knows something else is here with her, it's not like Stella's house, she _knows_ somebody else is here.

He seems familiar.

"So… do you know how you got here?"

The girl thought to give him a snarky comment, but decided against it at the last second. "No."

"No?"

"I don't. I just woke up." She hacked away at the oversized leaves in her path, "What about you?"

"Hah.. Same here."

In the distance, separate from Aiden, she could hear a fire cackling.

"So neither of us know how we got here," The boy said conclusively. She shrugged, not really concerning herself with their conversation. The clearing trees took her attention, instead. She continued forward, looking between the darkness for the coming light.

"What about before you got here?" He asked after a short while, "Do you remember that?"

For a very brief moment, blue-greens became purple, foreboding and dark, _lonely_ ; axes slashed at invisible enemies and people screamed, leaves ate at her feet and-

"No."

-the cackling, orange or white?

"I don't remember anything before that, either."

Aiden was, naturally, perplexed. "You don't?"

The wind howled. Cassie took in a deep breath in an effort to stabilize herself.

"I remember jumping off a platform," She admits, "That's all."

Silence.

"Oh."

He's smarter than she thought.

He shut up.

Cassie continued through the cluster of trees, now with more moonlight on the path than earlier. Her walk was silent, the only other noise she could hear, besides the forest, being Aiden rummaging through papers and file cabinets in his cramped office. Moving on, she focused on the laughing fire.

At some point in the silent walk, it had gotten so unnerving and stuffy she almost considered starting a conversation herself, or to ask Aiden to shut up and stop ruffling papers in her ear.

Until she found herself in a clearing.

She blinked. "Oh."

"Why, what's up?"

"It's…" Cassie gulped, "It's a campsite."

Aiden paused. "A campsite?"

Surrounding a small pile of sticks and stones were chests and blankets bundled in the shape of logs. Wedged in the middle of the campfire was a sword, the hilt facing up. It looked old and used, the cracks in the blade showing even in the darkness.

Cassie's eyes narrowed and she knelt down to get a better look. The sword was greenish-grey, the hilt decorated with intricate carvings, reaching to the midpoint of the blade. True enough, there were cracks all over it, the thin lines glowing a light orange. Curious, she traced the cracks, but when she did…

She yelled.

The girl was thrown back when the sword spontaneously combusted, and in that moment, everything flashed before her eyes. Sounds, colors, textures, all in an instant, frozen in place and printed to form a complete picture, a set state.

Her screams and the flashing, it all lasted as it came, and the buzzing in her ears for the one second slowly faded away.

"Cassie?"

Everything was muffled for a while and she could barely hear Aiden over the noise crawling to a quiet hum.

"Cassie?" Aiden repeated, "Are you there? Are you okay?"

She blinked, trying to get her bearings and scrambling up to sit. Her breathing was rapid- "Uh- Yeah," -and _god_ , her head hurt. What did she hit?

She grimaced. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Instead of replying right away, she steadied her breath, her sight focused on the fire in front of her. The dancing, bright orange against the blue around her was… surprisingly calming. She continued to breathe, slowing herself down until she could consider herself okay.

"Pretty sure," She said finally.

"O-Oh." Aiden seemed unsure, "Okay, good."

Satisfied, Cassie looked around her surroundings to get a better idea of where she was. It was a bit of a useless effort, when she found that it was as unremarkable as everything else she's seen in the past hours; almost like every place was a carbon copy of the other.

That was a usual thing for forests, wasn't it?

"Do you know what that was?" He asked, "What happened?"

Kneading her forehead, Cassie breathed a laugh. "I have _no_ idea. The thing just blew up in my face and gave me a… a…" She tried to find the word, feeling an ache at the back of her head with a grimace.

"A what?"

It didn't hurt when she touched it. "A flashbang." She finished, getting up to sift through the chests, to find a rather surprising amount of useful materials. Glass bottles, used armor, food...

"...A what?"

She stopped. "What do you mean, 'a what?'"

"What's a flashbang?"

"You don't know what a flashbang is?"

"Should I?"

The redhead's sigh was exasperated. Aiden was far more clueless than Cassie thought, it seems. Deciding to continue her salvage, she opened the chest back up and took everything that had worth. "It's pretty common knowledge, I think you should."

"I guess it isn't that common if I don't know what it is."

She took the weathered leather armor; dug through more of the chest and kept the handful of wrapped vegetables and meat. The iron and wood and stone tools were kept in her inventory as well.

"So what is it?"

 _Did he ever stop asking questions?_ Cassie grumbled as she dug through the chest some more. "Short version, it's a bomb that makes a bright flash of light that blinds the target temporarily."

"Oh. So that's what happened to you?"

Cassie's hands froze when she got to the bottom of the chest; or rather, what was _laying_ at the bottom of it.

"Yeah," She said dismissively, "So, Aiden."

"Yeah?"

The rectangular stick in her hands was rather bright, though its silver glow was still faint in comparison to the bonfire and the moon. "Your turn to explain something to me," she turned the stick over, examining every inch of it. It was in perfectly pristine condition. "Do you know about any sticks that glow?"

"You mean like blaze rods?"

She made a noise. "Well, not exactly like blaze rods. It looks like a longer, thinner iron ingot, only," Flipping the stick over, she caught it perfectly in her palm and felt it thoroughly. "It's not iron. It's kind of translucent and pretty warm."

" _Warm?_ "

Moving on to the other chest and going through that, Cassie found nothing of interest. She looked back down at the stick and sat down. "Just a little." She yawned, "It's not like it's blazing hot or anything."

Aiden took a while to answer, before giving out a mere, "Huh."

The glow of the rod faltered, its humming either louder or softer with the light's changing glow, like a metronome to the tune of a slow amble.

(It felt familiar.)

While still holding the rod, she stifled a yawn, now laying on her back and looking up at the stars.

They weren't the same as the stars in the other world.

She didn't know if that was better or worse.

"Getting sleepy?" Aiden asked.

"Mhm." She rubbed her eyes behind her glasses, "A bit."

"I bet that fight with Lunacy was exhausting. You should get some rest."

Faintly in the background, both in and out of transmission, she could hear something; it was low and clunky, somewhat guttural. Whether that was Aiden in the office or another creature in the forest, she didn't bother to care.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

 **2**

* * *

When Cassie woke up, she woke to darkness.

The sky was the same as when she went to sleep. Not just in the fact that it was still night, but the moon, the stars, were in the exact same position as before. Nothing had changed, nothing had moved. It was entirely still.

Perhaps she hadn't slept at all. Perhaps she had only blacked out for a second.

"That's bull, it's been eight hours!" Aiden exclaimed.

"Listen," She grumbled, fiddling with the strings of an enchanted bow she found in the chests. "If you've got a problem with that, take it with the sky, not me."

Her disembodied companion let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry."

She only just woke up seconds ago and started fixing the things immediately, thinking it best not to stay in one spot too long for fear of any other monsters like Lunacy finding her. The string quivered back into place, neither it or the wood of the bow affected by Cassie at all. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath and looked straight at the little fire before her. "It's fine."

As the sky hadn't changed, so too did the bonfire. It was still as bright as when it was first set, illuminating everything within its vicinity. The sword in the center was undamaged.

She looked back down at the bow in her lap, enchanted with Flame, Knockback, Mending. Its glow was mesmerizing, soft pastels moving between the two ends of the weapon like calm water. A small smile graced itself on her face.

"With that fire," Aiden said, "I'm surprised nobody's tried to eat you yet."

" _Ha Ha._ "

In the background of the feed, she could hear the sound of papers being flipped, cabinets opening and closing, and the sound of what could be Aiden spinning in an office chair. He must be bored.

(How could he stand staying in that cramped space for so long? She herself couldn't have lasted _minutes_.)

Cassie frowned, remembering everything they've done so far. How long have they known each other, twenty hours? Less?

She remembered him asking if she remembered getting here. _She_ was trapped and starving just before she woke up here, and as far as she knows, the (likely) younger spawn didn't have any form of sustenance in that cramped office. Not unless there was some way out that he hasn't found or told her about yet.

"Hey, Aiden?" Cassie kept the arrow and got up, doing one last check over her inventory.

"Yeah?"

(Was she _concerned_?)

Cassie shook her head, biting her lip.

"What about you?"

"What do you mean, 'what about me?'"

She took her mind off of it. Everything was in place. Deciding against asking for directions in favor of exploration, she turned away from the campfire and headed forward. "Do _you_ remember anything from before you got here?"

She'd asked because she wanted background noise, something to fill her head in the everlasting night that was the forest.

It felt stuffy. Empty, yet cramped. Full, but lonely.

The silence that came with his lack of an answer unnerved her far more than she felt it should have.

"Nothing good," He finally said. A wave of relief and curiosity came over her. A laugh was all she could muster to convey that. "So we're in the same boat, huh?"

Aiden mirrored her perfectly. "Well, maybe I didn't jump off a platform, but I did starve to death in a prison cell."

Starve to death.

Cassie looked down at the wrapped food in her inventory.

"Are you hungry?" She asked in a low voice. Aiden was silent.

"Not really."

And that ended that.

Cassie continued forward, bringing her fingers up to -adjust her glasses- rub her eyes. The forest was far too dark.

"What about prison?" To break the silence.

The gurgles that were Enderman noise weren't enough.

Aiden's voice, though low and hesitant, comforts her. "What about it?"

"You- you had a government? In your world?"

"Oh- us? No. Not my- not my homeworld. I was-" and he stopped.

Cassie's eyes softened, guilt blossomed in her chest, even if he couldn't see it.

He clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine," she says.

Aiden sounds relieved, "Thank you. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I should be the one apologizing."

So she won't pry.

In truth, Cassie herself is unsure if she would tell him about her own background.

* * *

 **3**

* * *

The laughter was too loud.

The cackling of fire, the amble in the forest, the click of the tiles.

Click.

Clak.

Cackle.

 _Crack!_

Cassie's breath hitched.

"Is something wrong?"

Somebody's here, she could feel it. It prickled at her skin, tickling the hairs that stood on end, sweat beading down her skin and making her even more uncomfortable only standing where she stood.

 _Click. Clak. Cackle. Crack._

A needle falling to the floor.

"It's nothing," she says, though with a trembling voice.

It's everyday.

( _Click. Clak. Cackle. Crack._ )

The cell door falls shut.

(It runs through the trees.)

His voice breaks through the noise.

"So what's your goal here, exactly?"

Cassie takes in a breath. The stone hoe in her hand trembles with her.

She hacks away.

"I don't know. Find out where I am, I guess."

Hacked away.

"I wanna know how I got here, _why_ I'm here." She looked down momentarily.

("And I guess, find out why I'm still alive.")

"Have you found anything about the world we're in?"

Aiden shook his head. "No. This whole place is an unorganized mess, I've only found profiles of people so far. And.. none of them are really that important, or interesting."

Cassie frowned. "What about the stick I told you about?"

"Nothing on that either. I'll let you know, though."

The metronome was interrupted by a groan. Cassie gulped.

"Thank you."

Keep walking. Keep walking.

 _Click_

The blue-greens look right into her eyes.

Keep walking. Keep Walking.

 _Clak_

It fogs up and blinds her.

Keep Walking. Keep Walking.

 _Cackle_

The fog grows heavy.

Keep Walking. Keep Walking.

 _It doesn't look like a word anymore, does it?_

Keep walking.

Keep Walking.

"Keep walking!"

 _ **KEEP WALKING**_

Cassie yelled and slashed at the presence that came up behind her. The hoe torn into weathered skin and spilled blood and guts all over the forest floor. The husk groaned, its pain summoning more of its kind. They ambled for her, hands raised to grab her and drag her in.

She grabbed for the broken enchanted sword and hacked at the walking corpses, tainting the heavier heavier fog with blood and rotten skin, filling the floor with the stench of the dead.

The campfire cackled, louder and louder, as she tore through the horde.

Its embers blended with the Ender's. The purple and orange burned her.

She saw the Enderman's eyes and it stared back at her.

It screamed, and so did she.

* * *

 **4**

* * *

She was thrown back to the campfire, feeling the flames burn through her sweater and brand her skin, the sword cutting through and slashing at the bruises.

The Enderman teleported to her as she backed away, heaving for breath, still in pain from the outburst of fire. It screeched at her, its forest of eyes piercing her soul, terrifying her to her core. It picked her up once again, cold, crumbling talons piercing her neck; holding her up in the air and tightening its hold.

She choked.

It threw her again to the trees and made the bark scrape her skin. A noiseless scream escaped her, short of breath as she tried to stand and stand up against the barrage of monsters at her steps. She grabbed for the diamond enchanted sword and swung aimlessly, hitting little husks in her way. She continued anyway, stabbing and slashing and ducking out of the way, wincing in pain.

She continues forward.

Hack and slash. Hack and slash.

They burned through her skin, groped at misshapen bruises. The needles hurt.

The needles hurt.

She comes back. The fire burns. The cackling continues.

The screeches never stop.

Black and white. Black and white. _Black and wte and blue and green._

 _Blue and g **reen**_

 _ **Blue and white and purple and black.**_ She learns to ignore the neverending husks. They're stupid, they're weak, they're unimportant.

It's the Enderman that matters.

It keeps moving and screaming at her.

"MURDERER! MURDERER!"

At some point, it picks her up again, makes her drop her sword. Her hands flail at the surprise, and in that moment, they grab at a cloth. An unfamiliar cloth, an uncomfortable- _leather_ , stained and worn. She grabs it and pulls, and the Enderman screeches.

It throws her to the bushes. The thistles prick at her and stick her to the ground.

"What was that?" She gasps, "What was that?"

Leather. Leather around the neck.

It was a cloth, a full arm of cloth.

She stumbled out of the bushes, landing on the trunk of a tree. Desperately, she climbs up.

"Why is that leather important?" She reaches out.

Climbing up and up until she's in the branches, and she can see the Enderman stand tall in the spotlight. The flames are licking at his feet, the embers floating high into the air and lighting his skin, his hair, the glare in his eyes, the shadow of his jacket.

It's tied around his neck.

"What do you see?" "What do you see?"

("I see a gate.") "I see an ocelot."

An ocelot printed at the back of the jacket. It's bright and smooth and new and pristine, contrasting the old tear of the jacket. Kept as some sort of memento, or the lingering scent of something long gone.

A gate. An ocelot.

Cassie drew out her bow.

Flame. Knockback. Mending.

She pulled out an arrow and drew the bow back. Her eyes narrowed at the Enderman.

The groans of the husks. The cackle of the fire. The howl of the wind. The pinprick sound of a needle laid gently in a tray.

"What do you see?"

Aiden's breath hitched.

Cassie breathed out evenly, mouth clamped shut.

She let go.

The enderman screamed.

The arrow dug into his skin through a blank leather jacket.

She fired again, and again, and again, and again.

Through blurry eyes, tears turning her vision into a white haze, she fired again and again and again and again.

She sobbed, and gasped, and fired again and _again_.

The husks burnt to a crisp. The campfire cackled. The Enderman screamed.

He was on fire, yelling to the moon. He was thrown and pushed back further and further with every shot, spreading the flames to the trees. The forest is alight with his agony, his blond hair matching the fire, the purple embers losing to the falling leaves; the fire's laughter against the breaking of the branches.

Click. Clak. Cackle.

 _Snap_.

Cassie fell back into the bushes, pricked and prodded by the needles, eyes blind, skin open red, roses blooming from its cage.

It hurt.

"It hurts so much."

She could feel a green glow softly nearby, near the light.

But it's so far.

"Cassie, you need to get up."

Something flapped, wings, the air was pushed through her.

A creature screamed, or her ears were ringing. Her head ached.

"You need to get up."

It was gone.

It hurt.

But she pushed herself to move.

The silverfish below her giggled, and the sound echoed in the air. Chiming, jingling.

A merry little tune to die to.

"You can't die here."

She limped to the campfire, her sloppy amble smudging the dirt below her.

The fire didn't laugh at her, this time. It was quiet and non-judgmental. It sympathized with her, felt what she did without having to say anything.

 _Jump_.

Dig.

Jump.

She reached her hand out to the cracked sword, and the moment her finger made contact with the old stone, the fire burst into a giant tree, its leaves disappearing into the air, giant and tall. The knockback made her stumble to the floor, hurting her even more.

The flames became gentle, and soft, and a comforting warm she missed, that she couldn't get from the tiles or the cold, metal door.

(It's so stuffy in here.)

"Go to sleep, Cassie."

Her eyelids drifted closed. Her breathing was small, and steadied.

She saw nothing in the darkness, then surrendered to it whole.

* * *

 **5**

* * *

"What happened? What did you see? Are you okay?"

She laid herself on the ground, staring up at the sky, free of embers and lit only with the quiet white stars in the sky.

"That leather jacket," she murmurs quietly. "What was that?"

Aiden was quiet for a moment. She held out on the hope of the conversation.

He isn't gone.

"Remember how you said- how you asked me about prison?"

Cassie bit her lip. "Yeah?"

"I burned a city to the ground."

He lost a friend he used to trust with everything. The person he trusted with his life, his love, left him, abandoned him, and let him down. Aiden wouldn't admit to the other man's fault, but Cassie could tell.

He was left behind. So he retaliated.

It was knee-jerk, he said, and then denied. He struggled to admit it all. He stole a portal key and took over an entire city and burned it to smithereens.

They arrested him, in the end, and he was thrown into prison.

Solitary confinement.

And then he woke up here.

"It's not so bad," he says. "It's not as bad in here. I have you to talk to, it's not… lonely. It's not _as_ lonely, as- as prison was."

A frown formed on her face. "You couldn't even see your other friends in prison?"

He shook his head. "No. They made sure I was all alone."

…

Cassie breathed evenly, relaxing her muscles, watching the unmoving sky.

It was quiet, tonight. The most peaceful she's ever felt in a long while.

It won't last, and it's not 100% peace and quiet.

But at the moment, it was enough.

Fumbling with the cold silver rod in her pocket, Cassie Rose let out a resigned, quiet sigh. "Yeah," she says softly, "I can get that."


	3. The Lonely Anniversary Feast

**Hey, C.**

 **Change of plans. I would've liked to keep all the data from each episode in one place, but it got too long, and honestly it was just really ugly seeing jumbled up data in one place. You wouldn't like it.**

 **Don't get mad at me for valuing aesthetic, I can't help it. You know how I am. Besides, it would be much more efficient if I sent you the data as I got it, right?**

 **And if you really want, I'll see what I can do about bulk orders in the future.**

 **Anyway, send me feedback once you're done reading. I need to know how effective this is.**

 **We don't exactly have time to waste.**

 **Many thanks.**

 **\- S.**

* * *

 **I. Eye of The Storm**

* * *

The Redstonist's plans were complete. She'd dedicated months to revising her research, analysing what went wrong in the old experiments and studying all the information she'd gathered. She checked her notes dozens of times in the days leading up to this. Countless nights were spent theorizing and gathering materials from the mines, refining them to exactly what she needed.

Everything was prepared for today, and she was going to do one more check on her materials before she would spend hours in her Dome of Concentration.

Instead of rearranging in the Storage, however, she was standing on the East balcony, overlooking the currently empty bay of her city.

"Ellegaard?"

The woman didn't look away from the thing in the water. "What time did you see this again?"

"Just this morning," Calvin said, "Nobody seems to have noticed it, or even felt it. No one has reported anything, anyway." He took a quick glance at his clipboard to check, then looked up at the engineer. "I'm assuming it formed in the middle of last night."

The waters of the bay were shallow, so it was easy to see the large hole on the seafloor. It was already there when The Order discovered the island, and if Soren was right, it had formed at some point in the last thousand years. He said that it was nothing to worry about, as long as it wasn't disturbed and that no ships attempted to pass over it, so Ellegaard had specifically avoided interacting with the hole when she founded her city.

Yet here it was, despite her efforts, with rifts forming at opposite ends of the hole, the gap thinning as it furthered out

It resembled an eye.

'Was this karma?' She had to wonder.

Her contemplation was disturbed when Calvin asked, "What should we do?"

He sounded worried.

To be fair to him, he had a right to be.

She was a little worried too.

Ellegaard's brows furrowed, a frown set on her face.

"We shouldn't touch it." She said sternly. The woman looked at the man straight in the eye, "Don't go anywhere near it. Widen the barriers around the hole, but don't close the bay or the bridge." Her grip on the railing tightened, "We are not postponing anything today."

Anxiously, the man nodded. "Understood, ma'am."

She let him leave to do as he was told, and she turned back to the bay.

If she finished the Command Block today, then there truly won't be anything to worry about.

She would start with the rift.

* * *

 **II. The Last of the Treehouse**

* * *

It was like reality fell apart.

 _His_ reality, at the very least.

Jesse had been sparring. He knew today was the day, the day the others told him about. The beginning of the run. He'd been prepared for battles and arguments and running and screaming, but not this.

He'd frozen when he got a good look at his arm, at his hands gripping the toy sword, when he randomly decided to focus on the moment. He didn't see anything, but something had sparked in that one second. Something made itself known.

Strings.

Ball-joints.

Eyes.

They were staring at him.

The more Jesse focused, blocked out his human senses, the stronger their presence felt. The stronger it became. As the sounds began to dull, as Olivia's voice faded, like she was far, far away, as everything became static 0s and 1s. They were there. They seemed to have always been there. The ache at the back of his head, the numb, harrowing void behind his back.

Present, dormant, all his life; and it woke up.

The hypnotic droning continued without pause, without delay, without end. It waited, stagnant, for movement. A ripple.

Green and black grids.

The boy looked around for any sign of them, but there was nothing. It was just vast, empty, black, all around him. Darkness. Static noise that meant nothing to the ignorant. Maybe he would know, if he wanted to, if he tried. But something was stopping him, holding him back, keeping him from doing so.

Everytime They were awake, he hopes. Only when They're awake.

He couldn't speak to Them. He couldn't look at Them, either, which almost scared him. He felt Them, They were _here_ , but They weren't stuck to one place. They were everywhere and nowhere.

And Jesse could call himself horrified when, once he finally decided to move, to look away from thè̵̢̯̞̹̫͈͓̾̓͑̈͂͆͟͝͞ e͓͕̣͍͖̘̺̎͑̓̌́̉̈m̸̺̥͖̜̩̘͓̥͑̋͊̓͌̒͊̕̕p̴̢̪̪̹̥̘͈̃͂̂̒̃t̸̡͎̪̤͉̘͙͎͆̂̊̎̀͌ï̛̠̞͙̖̰̉̑̈́͝͝n̛̞͕̗͎̏͑̆̌́̎͟͡͞͝e̴̤͇̫̜͎͖͇͔̻̋́̌̊̿́̑̈́̀ͅs̸̡̛̛̟̖̯͙̥̃̿̇͒̀͘͜ͅs̶̱̫̙̩̲͈̼̤̾̌̐̎̅̅̅͘͠ț̷̢̢̻̜̞̖̰̟͐̊̊̚̚͜ḫ̴̢̛̟̰̬̺̱̝͔̀̐̑͆̂̈́̕͢͠e̵̢͓̳̻̪̳̱͍͊́̒̔̅͂̆̽̀̊͜ ṙ̨̛̖͈͔̠͓̱͍̯́̿́̓̎̏̚͠o̧̨̠͇̫͉͇͐̈͌̂̂͆̚p̨̪̖̖̙̥̉͆̔̈̋͋̈́̇͡͡ė̡͈͍̩̮̼̬̋̾̂̓̈ t̰̖̺̪̟̀͊̄̈̚ͅȟ̸̢̰̟̣̘͚͕̞̾̈̇͛̉͢͝ẽ̡̬͍̼̳̈́͑̔͒͟c̸̗̣̼͎̥̽̾̒̂̀̄h̶̢͍͈͕̩͙̮̃̿͐̆̀͟͟a̬̬̦̺͉͎̦̰͛̀̇̆͝i̸̺̻͍̜̺̺̍̊̆̾̀̕͝ṛ̛̠͇̞̯̳̇̒̄̔ t̟̼̮̟̘͉̝̿͆̎̌̀h̡̦̦̺̮̫͈̠̎̽͋̈́͛e̴͙̟͇̗̺͋́͐̀̆̽̓ p̷̢͓̫͇͖̱̲̜̳͆͊͌̄͛͋̇̆̕͞ơ̡̤̰̘̞͑̐̌̔̏i̧̠̭̳͇̪̖̊̽̏̈́́͘͡s̝̼̙͍̳͍̣̰̆̏̾̔̈͒̈́͐͊̕͢͟ơ̷̜̲̹͍̞̬̣̦̈́̐̒̃̍͠͠ǹ̡̳̲͈͚̱̩̓̑̓̉͡e̶͚̰̙̜̫̭̼̭͒̋͂̌͋́̇̕͢d̵̞̝̩͙̝͓̰̗̒̿͆͌͐̚̕ p̡̛̰̦̜̜̯̗͆̽̅͆͐̓̀͟͞͠ͅī̷̠͙̖͔̣̠̻̋͛͑̉͢ĺ̡̢̘̯̲̄̋͆̅͡ļ̶̼̰̭̻̅̐͗̿́͊̍s̛͖̥̤̖̺̱͋͛̿̿̀̿̌͟ā̷̹̲̲̞̣͓̜̺͋̋̿́̆̑̕̚l̵̢̝͈̲̠̳̒̈́̆̄͘ c̫̥̯̥̖̺̞͙̟̒͆̒͋̒̚̕͢ỏ̷̳̦͔͎̣̍̋̍̕͟ḫ̢̢͍͖̭͖̬̥̥́́̊̃̽ò̢͔͇̪̹̰̲͚͙͇̀̐̃͐̽͌̄͐͘ḽ̡̨̣̦̟͈̜̑̒̆̿͐̏̕͠͡ g̢̘̠̜̭̝͙̤͍̈͒̑̈́͊̏͐̍͝ͅo̶͓̦̥̤̹̍̒̅̉͘̕ȧ̧̠͈̮̙̝̖̋̂̕͝͡w̶͓͓̘̺̥͖̿̿̍̆̂͟ ḁ̴̡̙̝̬̥̟̟̝̈̀͌̾̒̆̓͟͡ỳ̷̳̥̬͙̜͚̝̮̯̍͆͐͘ͅg̡̰̱̜̫͉̤̬̰̝̉͒͒́̈̀́̅̊̎ō̵̡̱͚͖̻͕̐͐̾̐͐͊͒̋a̱̥̙̹̞̬͐̈́̋́́͂͛̍ͅw̶̢̛̞̯̥̳͓̏̈́̾͘͘̚a̜̫͎̲̫̖̹͑̾͆̒̆̆͐́͘͟y̯̪̥̦̳̘̳̔͌̽̏̓̐͐͢ͅḭ̦͕̯͓͖̣̼̘̎̆̂́̓́̑̓͛̕ͅd̷̢̡̙͓͎̮̭̮͓͛̂͒̔͛̚͢o̴̡͔̣͖̘̤͋͆̌̿̓̀̅͢͢n͍̠̹͎̘͈̈̃́͆͂̏͞͡ẗ̴͙̠̹̹̗͇̘͕̳́̑͆̊̌͌̑̚͟w̱̝͕̦̲̝̍̾͛́̚a̴̧̘̬̦͎͓͓̿̇͊͝͡͞͝ņ̵̳̠̺̰̣͉̟̓͋͂́̃͌̕͢ͅn͍̟̺͓̖͙̪̤̤̓̇̊̽̄́͗͡a̷̡̯̪̗̒͒̓̈́̐͢ͅd̷̨̛̺̰̩͇̮̣͉͖͙̎́̓̕ï̪͎̟͈̳̂͂͛̀́͐̇̇͟͟e̞̫̮̮͎̬̬̔͗́̕͜͞ͅa̢̛͎̬̼͉̝͇̱͊̂͐̏̓͒̕͘͜ḻ̡̛̝̘͇͍̗̉̀͗̚͞o̡͇̦͈̹̲̘̹̥̎̽̍̍̕ǹ̢͈̮̤̰̆̂̂͠e̴͎͖̠͚͎̅͊̓͘͡ć̛̰̩̣̗̦̖̎̐͒̊̚͟͡͠ō̧̧̨̼͍̫̻̙̳̣̾̍͌̀̎̓m̴̨̡̜̬͎̻̠̘̗̺̄̆̊̃̕͠e̛̛͉̥͉͓̯̍̄̑͆̍̿͡͞b̭̝͕̥͙͚̬̰͇̥͋̐̒͆̕̚ạ̺̫̗̟̎̍̊̑͞ͅç̤̪̫̞̤͋́̐̌̊͞ͅk̢̥̩͕̀̉̍̇͂̅ͅc̥̞̠̩̘͎͙̥̐̓̇̈̚̕o̭̥͇̭̺̱̍̍̀̏͊́̀̿͒͞å̴̡̨̡̝͍̯̮͙̭̮̅̒̃̚n̵̡̛̮͙̟͔̝͛̉̌̀̕͟͜͝͞d̸̗̹̝͉̯͉͐̿͗́̋͘͟͜ ḃ̸̧̟̯̠̪͙͕̟̖̱͗̇̊̈́̄̚̚ack to the armor stand and Olivia, They'd frozen, stilled— no, They moved in unison. One mass; compact matter pretending, acting, watching, all at the same inside him.

His head.

Is this what Ren had felt in those eight years she told him about? Is this what it felt like when he told Thief that he wouldn't save Reuben?

"Do you hear that?"

Internally, he tried to calm himself and follow the script.

He turned to the floor where the creeper's hissing was rising from and tightly gripped his wooden sword, taking light steps towards the trapdoor. He could clearly see the puppet strings attached to ball-jointed limbs as he reached out for the handle.

 _His_ limbs.

 _Disgusting._

As he scolded Axel for scaring Reuben, Jesse took a mental note to ask the girl about the strings.

* * *

 **III. Cracks in the Wall**

* * *

The walls were crumbling.

He got a glimpse of it when he entered the forest, chasing Reuben. Everything momentarily broke apart, flickering between different images, textures. Cracks began to form on the planes with a sickening creak, as if bones had been broken.

And if that wasn't enough to worry him, the forest certainly did. He'd travelled through the vast place dozens of times in his ten years of being alive. He'd lived there his whole life, and he knew for sure that he was very familiar with the parts just closer to town, which was where he was right now, but all of a sudden, his mind had gone blank. Everything looked unfamiliar, new, as if he hadn't seen it before when he knew that he has. He should have. He was fine until now.

Then he stopped. Or, he wanted to, but his legs kept moving, and the cracks started to spread, slowly.

Ball joints.

"There it is, Jesse."

His will returned to him, he turned around, the black and green lines finally taking over the forest, to see the redhead in a beanie - _C̸̠̙̭͕̙̜̞̲̍͛̆̀̍͜͢͝a̶̡̺̣̳̖̝̓̂͌̍̍̂͝ͅş̴̛̠̳̟̪̹̼̼́͐̓̄͒̎̑̓̕s̷̤͉͙̬͔͙͚̉̍̍͊́͛̄̀͜i̢̢̯̯̟̱͖̻̿̌̐͞͠e̵̢͈̮͍̭̖̎̓̓̊̀͞ Ŗ̢̛̹̥̘͙͇̙̂̆́͛̓̋̊̆̕͢͟o̸̧̡͕̘̗̬͇̫̾̇̍̋̆͊͋͘͜ͅs̶̥̺͔̻̉̂͗͑̋̐̕͜͡e̴̛̛̦̦̰̦̞̪̫͂̇̄͌̀͟_ \- staring back at him. She wasn't far, but that seemed more out of convenience more than anything realistic. The green pixels were fading into dust behind her.

The older girl's eyes were empty, face blank. "It's starting to fall apart. Your interferences-"

"I haven't cut the strings yet," he said, lost. Desperate, as well, perhaps. "I didn't even know they were here."

"You didn't have to. Knowing was more than enough." She tilted her head slightly, "The others didn't know, remember? They never told you about Them."

He looked down, hands fidgeting. Ignore the strings. "No, they didn't."

The girl hummed, and Jesse turned to face the cracks. They were small, but bright whites bled through, light shining in the dark̴̼̩̳͔͚͙̦͋̈́̒͆̐̀̕͢͡,̢̡̛͍͕̣͕͕̾̓̓̓̑̚͘͟ h̷̦̭̫̯͑̌̀̍́͂̾̌͟͡u̵̼̞͉̪̙̹̪̯̰̇̉̔̊̌̕͜͝m̛̤̗̲͙̪̥͗̍̿̋́̀͛͘͢͜͜m̶̨̟͉͚̩̟̭͑̀̔͂́̈́̾̑͠S̭̣͕̱̭̿͊̇̕͡c̡͇̲̟̖̖͓̦̤͗̇̌̈̿̈̿̓͡r̶͔̞̠̝̖͖̘̜͚͍̾̉͒͗͒́ȩ̵̞͓̘̪̓̐̾̀͞a̦̦̝͙͇̥̳̹͋͊̀̄̎͒̈́͘͠m̷̥̦̗̳̼̺̥̘̀̿̂̀̿̓̃̃͘͘į̶̹̥̪̠̈̀̏̅͊̋̊͒n͔̩̟̘̺̳̯͎͋̒̈̐̒͋̇̈̈́͋ģ͕̼̦̮̜̖͉̙̞̂͋̑́̿̅?̵̰̖̹̟̻́̃̍͆̈́̃́͗͢͝,̴͖̫̜̥̭̈̈́͂̓̀͊̓͂͞ a high-pitched noise one would have to strain their ears to hear emanating from the crack.

How could he have known when the others didn't?

Cassie's frown thinned, brows furrowing as she watched the boy.

"You're familiar with the phrase, 'Prisoner Zero has escaped,' right?"

Jesse blinked when he turned back to her, a look of surprise on his face. "I didn't know you were one for science-fiction," Then, his eyes narrowed, and his surprise turned to a look of mild disgust. "Oh, we're not going there."

The girl shook her head and simply said, "Whatever. I'll let you figure it out for yourself." Then she crossed her arms, glancing wearily at the cracks, "Like I said, good luck."

She turned around without waiting for a reply, saying on her way, "I'll see you around."

And she was gone.

Nearby, Jesse could hear the cackling of fire. A lone tree, he saw, when he turned around. It was standing all alone, dying, branches burning brighter than the moonlight covering the forest.

Jesse watched it burn, watched the leaves get eaten away by flames and small embers fall softly to the grass and disappearing shortly after. Very soon, the tree was gone, leaving nothing behind but a charred stump.

He took one moment before calling Reuben's name.

* * *

 **IV. WHERE THE WEASEL RUNS**

* * *

Bone-breaking cracks, for a split second. They were continuous, creeping in the background. Ever since he left the forest.

He almost flinched.

"Where'd he go?" Petra asked in a stage-whisper. Jesse scanned the room for any sign of the old man. People were slowly trickling into the Social Hall, most likely for the upcoming keynote; the old man was not among the small number of people spread out in the room. Jesse did, however, come upon a wooden door, swaying in the light breeze. Surely, left ajar by somebody in a rush.

He pointed at the evidence right away. "Over there!"

Their group ran straight for it, Olivia running ahead of Jesse. When they'd just caught up to Petra at the gate, Lukas asked, "Wait, what do we do once we catch him?"

They all turned to him, realizing they didn't have a plan. "There are a million ways to play this," Lukas said, and he did have a point. Jesse would have conceded had he not continued, saying as he shrugged, "But considering this isn't my fight, I'll follow your lead."

Jesse glanced between the two older girls at the door. Olivia spoke first.

"We take what we need and go, simple as that," She then looked to Petra, who seemed about to protest, "And we'll beat him up for it, if we have to."

At that, the mercenary's frown turned to a grin; Jesse's expression reflected hers. Sharing a glance with Axel, he could see that he was the same.

That was their friend, alright.

Lukas almost took a step back, but he nodded. "You're way more intense than I thought, Olivia."

"Oh," Axel grinned as they went through the door, "You haven't seen _anything_ yet."

"Be quiet," Petra said in a low voice. They were all following the aspiring engineer downstairs, apparently, "We don't know if he's here."

Jesse mimicked her, although he knew that the basement was empty. "If he were here, he'd be smart enough to close the door."

"The guy cheated Petra out on a deal," Axel chimed in, "I don't think he's smart in general."

Reuben snorted.

The boys caught up with Olivia and Petra at the bottom of the stairs, Jesse walking ahead of their pileup to view the room at the landing. "See?" He gestured to the room, "There's no one here."

There truly wasn't. The large room, which may as well have been a maze of bookshelves and chests, was empty. There were books and materials filling the shelves, but no thief.

"I'll bet you _anything_ I'll find my Wither Skull here."

Jesse descended the smaller steps as the others followed suit. Reuben gace an oink, which the humanoid nodded to in agreement, "Yeah, I wonder how he could have gotten away with this, too."

"Maybe it's because he's always been here," Olivia suggested in a mumble, pulling out a red leatherbound from the nearest shelf. Ahead of them, Axel and Petra were arguing over whether they should steal from Ivor or not, Reuben following them in curiosity of the rest of the basement.

The twin-tailed girl turned to Jesse and showed him the book. It seemed to have been used for quite a while, but it wasn't ages old; written in masking tape (how?) on the cover were the words "Territorial Boundaries V." Flipping it open revealed inky sketches of maps, villagers, and landmarks splattered all over tables; the ones that weren't covered were filled with numbers and coordinates.

He turned to Olivia, "What are you saying?"

The girl shrugged, "If I'm interpreting this label correctly, this is the fifth record of - I'm guessing - this town's boundaries and territory."

Jesse recoiled, "Wait, there's such a thing as territory and boundaries now? Like, officially?"

Lukas came up behind them, asking for the book, "You guys haven't heard?" The younger two spawns turned to him, confused. Olivia handed him the book as Jesse asked, "Of what?"

"Some villages and towns have been trying to assert an Official Authority, recently," Lukas continued as he flipped through the record, "Like those ones in the Old Encyclopedias?"

Jesse nodded, recalling hearing about the governments from the Other World. He doesn't remember any of them ending well, though. "They'd only started a couple of months ago, but I'm pretty sure some people have been trying to keep official records ever since…" The blond trailed off to think, "About twenty years ago?"

It seems Olivia didn't know about this either, as both she and Jesse reacted with shock, "Really?"

Lukas put the book back on the shelf. "Yeah, and it's those people (plus some others) who were trying to start making governments. So, I guess Ivor was one of those people for this particular town? And that's why he's got all these records."

"And how he can get away with having his own personal basement down here, it seems." Jesse added. The other boy nodded. Though his lips twitched upwards, Lukas seemed frightened, "A Villain Lair made of Everyday Objects, more like."

The three then dispersed. Jesse walked passed Olivia and Petra chatting about a sword, seeing Reuben in an open part of the room sniffing a glowing potion on a pedestal and recoiling in disgust. He gave the potion, glowing purple and gold, one glance, before turning away and walking for the bookshelf upfront.

This was when the bones started to break even more; or at the very least, the sound was louder _here_. The edges of his vision began to fuzz as he walked ever closer to the shelf, the feeling of somebody's presence behind him getting ever stronger as he climbed the steps. All the sounds around him began to blur.

The person behind him became ever prominent, and he realized that that person wasn't Them. In fact, They seemed to have disappeared.

As if the more the bones broke, the less of a hold they had on him.

On this world.

" _You've got that part right_ ," He could hear Cassie say.

Faintly in the backg̸̦͑͊r̴̛̩̗ỏ̵̢̘͝u̷̯͆̔nd, h̴̢̯̆̎ẹ̸̍ ̶̬̌̔c̶͚̲̈́ȍ̴̜ul̶̪̐d̷̬̩͐ ̸͕͔͘h̵̦͚͂e̵͇̯͗̑ȁ̴̰̂r̵̗͔͛ ̵̧̙̚h̸̤̉͜is frie̷͕͕͝n̸̛̫d̸̯̗̉͑s̶̖̾ ̷̟̈̈́c̴̭͗o̸̩͍̅̂n̵̾̐ͅv̴̰̂e̴̤̊̄r̵̬͐s̶̙̟̅e̵̫̼̅, ta̶̭͈̍͆ḽ̵̲̓king about- what was it, the p̸͖̀̕ǫ̶̧͑̔t̶͇̙̅i̶̥̔̅o̶̟͎͗n Axel̸̻͋ ̷̦̿ͅstȏ̷̥̺lê̷̻̚?̵̻̗̔̂ ̴̪̌͊The̴̝̗̊ ̸̟̎̀s̴̝͝wit̴̲̀͛c̶̡͂ḣ̴͇̙͛ ̴͕̦̚R̶̰̜͛̇eUben̵͔̗̍͋ ̷̖̄̿s̵̥̎a̷̺͗̏w̷͕͆͜?̵̤̼̚

"̴̢̟̼̯̦̫̤̩̯̻̍ͅJ̴̛̗͍̫͎͎͇̞͕̞͊̔̂́̈̇̍͛̚ͅe̴͈̎̂͑́̉͐̔̽͝ş̴̜͇̦̓̋̈̍̓s̸̡̲̜͈̼̳̗̦̒e̴̡̬͚͔̪̫͕̖̹̲͐͠?̷̭̪̙͙̟̪̻̣͘ ̶̼̘̣̔͒̓̔̓̋̑̚͠Â̷̻̰̯̐̏͝r̷̨̨̦͕̞̖͈͗̈̾̍̈́è̴̥̜͓̾͒͛̇͊̚͘͘ ̶̦͍̲̐́̑y̷̟̒͊ǒ̸̤̻̌u̷̡̙̾̈ o̴k̵a̸wH _Er3_ i5 _3veR_ **yO** n **N** **n** ** _eL_** _uKc_ _LYd_ dd **eEE**?zzjAc _khE_ ** _lL_** **L** ** _p_** **pxpx** p _xxxxxx_ _ **xxxx**_ _xxxx_ **xxxxxxxxx** xxxxx▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓  
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He blinked rapidly, looking up from his clenched fist, the palms near bleeding from his fingernails pressing on to the skin. Tears began to form as everything blurred even more, senses overloading, the droning in the background increasing.

He stood directly in front of the hollow bookshelf, nose-to-nose with the spine of a worn book. Though he was trembling terribly, he knew for certain that the words on the spine were shifting into abstract shapes, structured as if they were addressing him.

Then he reached out, and the plane folded.


End file.
